14.07.2026 19:30
The article stipulating the increase of the minimum pension to 23,552 TL was approved in the Turkish Grand National Assembly's Plan and Budget Committee. With the regulation, the minimum pension payment, currently implemented as 20,000 Turkish liras, will be raised to 23,552 Turkish liras for the first 6 months of 2026, taking into account the 17.76 percent inflation rate announced by TÜİK.
The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Planning and Budget Commission convened to discuss the draft law proposing to increase the minimum pension from 20,000 lira to 23,552 lira, along with amendments to various laws and decree-laws.
The TBMM Planning and Budget Commission met under the chairmanship of AK Party Samsun Deputy Mehmet Muş. After Muş opened the commission meeting, CHP Antalya Deputy Cavit Arı stated that articles 16, 17, and 18 of the proposal concern national education and said, "While this issue is being discussed in the Planning and Budget Commission today, the National Education Commission will also convene at 15:00. The commission primarily responsible for these articles will be in session. Therefore, these matters should be discussed in the relevant commission. The Planning and Budget Commission discusses every issue and passes legislative proposals, but today there is a different situation. Hence, I request that these articles be withdrawn from our commission and discussed in the relevant commission."
"WE ARE MAKING LOW-QUALITY LAWS"
İYİ Party Samsun Deputy Erhan Usta said, "We are making low-quality laws. The proposal is not discussed in the primary commission; bureaucrats sometimes come in various forms. According to the new system, the proposal should not come from the public sector or ministries; members of parliament submit legislative proposals, but that's another story. We constantly make laws to 'resolve doubts, correct wrong practices, and so on.' You are not a new government; you have been governing this country for 25 years. You are governing it worse every day."
"WE ARE STRENGTHENING THE HIERARCHICAL BALANCE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR"
Subsequently, AK Party Samsun Deputy Ersan Aksu, the first signatory of the proposal, briefed the deputies. Aksu said, "With articles 1, 16, and 26 of our proposal, we are strengthening the hierarchical balance and title uniformity in the public sector. Through the amendment to Article 68/B of Law No. 657 on Civil Servants, we are increasing the seniority requirement for appointment to the position of department head in civil servant status and equivalent managerial positions from 5 years to 10 years. At the same time, we are removing the positions of provincial and regional directors—listed in Annex-2 of Presidential Decree No. 3 and not considered top-level public administrators—from the appointment exceptions provided by Article 35 of Decree-Law No. 375. Thus, we ensure that the basic conditions of Law No. 657 and the rules of grade progression are applied in the appointment of provincial and regional directors, who are the highest-level representatives in the provinces, introducing a regulation based on and prioritizing merit. We fill a gap in Law No. 6085 on the Court of Accounts with our proposal. We concretize the education and seniority conditions for appointments to the positions of Court of Accounts prosecutors at the legislative level. By requiring that appointees be graduates of faculties such as law, political science, or economics and have worked as public officials in financial, economic, and legal fields for at least 10 years, we strengthen the legal compliance audit mechanism in public financial management."
"WE ARE RAISING THE MINIMUM PENSION TO 23,552 LIRA"
Noting that important regulations regarding PTT's personnel structure have been made, Aksu said, "With articles 22 and 23 of our proposal, we aim to end the fragmented employment structure within PTT, excluding workers, and ensure personnel are employed in administrative service. Personnel subject to Decree-Law No. 399 may transition to a contract-based administrative service status voluntarily, based on merit and seniority priority; personnel who do not wish to transition or remain outside the quota will be able to move to other public institutions and organizations with their personal rights preserved. This regulation aims to ensure uniformity in PTT's personnel regime and increase efficiency by simplifying it. On the other hand, the challenging economic conditions the world is going through and the conflict environment in our immediate geography, ongoing for about a quarter of a century and intensifying recently, directly affect our macroeconomic balances. As a requirement of our understanding of being the government of the nation, we continue to take measures within our means to protect all sectors and all segments of society. Through the regulation closely concerning our retirees and beneficiaries, we are increasing the current minimum monthly payment amount of 20,000 Turkish lira to 23,552 Turkish lira, taking into account the inflation rate of 17.76% announced by TÜİK for the first six months of 2026." Aksu added that since the AK Party came to power, the pension has been increased 5.5 times beyond inflation and 12.5 times in dollar terms, and 5.1 million retirees will directly benefit from the current regulation.
"WE ARE LIGHTENING THE BURDEN ON TOURISM OPERATORS"
Aksu stated that the proposal simplifies budget transfers in the financial structure of the Social Security Institution (SGK) and consolidates them under a single budget item. Aksu said, "We are extending the duration of the manufacturing industry employment support programs financed by the Unemployment Insurance Fund and carried out through the Ministry of Industry and Technology and KOSGEB, which will end by the end of 2026, until December 31, 2028. A total of 188 billion TL in resources is expected to be used for these supports alone over the next three years. The tourism sector also needs support in this period due to global instabilities. With Article 10 of our proposal, we aim to provide a lifeline to our tourism operators. Global shocks in fuel prices and the war situation in neighboring countries have led to a contraction in travel demand for our country. Tourism is a labor-intensive sector, and cost pressures directly cause employment losses. Indeed, the approximately 10% decline in occupancy rates in the first months of the year has also reflected on employment. To prevent this loss from growing and to mitigate it, we will provide a daily insurance premium support of 116.67 TL, or approximately 3,500 TL per month for thirty days, to accommodation facilities certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism based on the premium days of insured workers reported to SGK during the May-December 2026 period. With this model directly encouraging employment, we are lightening the burden on tourism operators through an expenditure of approximately 5.36 billion TL for about 1.7 million insured workers."
"WE ARE STRENGTHENING THE CYBER SECURITY DIRECTORATE STRUCTURE"
Aksu also conveyed the proposal articles regarding the Cyber Security Directorate, saying, "With our legislative proposal, we are strengthening the legal and infrastructural architecture of our Cyber Security Directorate through articles 19, 24, and 25. We are consolidating authorities such as cyber defense, internet domain name management, internet infrastructure inspection, and judicial determination of communication via telecommunications—previously imposed on the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, whose primary duty is market regulation—under the Cyber Security Directorate. To prevent duplicate investments, we are transferring exclusive cyber security-focused data centers, technical infrastructures, and immovable properties within the BTK to the Directorate."
According to the impact analysis, approximately 30 billion TL in new infrastructure installation costs are saved solely through this transfer process. We are legally grounding the transition of our qualified human resources using these systems to the Cybersecurity Presidency while protecting their rights. With this bill, we are changing the financing model for cinema sector support. We are making it mandatory for conditional access media service providers and digital internet platforms to transfer 2 percent of their annual net sales to the revolving fund of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Furthermore, with the principle that those who benefit from content should contribute to production, we aim to ensure that a portion of the revenues these platforms obtain from our country returns as resources to Turkish content producers and filmmakers," he said.
ACCEPTED
Following Aksu's briefing, the meeting continued with the deputies' views and evaluations on the entire proposal. The bill was accepted by voting after the proposal. The proposal, which will be sent to the General Assembly of the Parliament, will enter into force upon approval by the President and publication in the Official Gazette if accepted there.